The present invention relates to aminated olefin polymers which have excellent adhesion, printability, and compatibility in polymer blends or the like, and which are obtained by introducing an amino group into .alpha.-olefin polymers having an olefinic unsaturated bond at the end.
1. Field of the Art
Homopolymers or copolymers of .alpha.-olefins, which herein include ethylene, have excellent properties such as mechanical strength, gloss, transparency, moldability, moisture resistance, chemical resistance or the like in addition to their inexpensiveness. The .alpha.-olefin polymers, however, are non-polar in their molecular structure and poor in affinity to other materials and thus have inferior properties such as adhesion, printability, compatibility in polymer blends or the like.
2. Related Art
Accordingly, attempts have hitherto been made to introduce a variety of functional groups into the .alpha.-olefin polymers in order to improve their properties. An amino group among the functional groups is believed to be very useful, as it reacts rapidly with a variety of the other functional groups such as a carboxylic acid group, an epoxy group, or the like to produce a corresponding chemical bond. Polymers having a functional group introduced at their terminus are important as thermoplastics as themselves and, in addition, as modifiers as solubilizing agents for resins.
It has been proposed to introduce a functional group to a terminus of a polyolefin. For instance, it is proposed to graft a carboxylic acid or its anhydride onto a polyolefin (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication Nos. 23904/1988, 37102/1988 and 173008/1990). Introduction of a halogen atom is proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 158709/1987. Introduction of a hydroxyl group into a polyolefin and of an epoxy group into a polyolefin are also proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 132604/1989 and 132605/1989, respectively.
It has also been known to introduce an amino group into a polyolefin. For instance, Japanese Patent Publication No. 15792/1979, and Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication Nos. 77687/1979 and 313508/1989 disclose to react an amine with a polyolefin having a glycidyl group which has been introduced thereinto thereby to introduce an amino group to a polyolefin. These proposals of course require epoxidation of a polyolefin before the amination, and amination solely at a terminus of the polyolefin may, to the best of our knowledge, be difficult. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 140212/1990 discloses to add an amino group-containing ethylenically unsaturated monomer to a polyolefin by means of a radical initiator, but this method may again be such that amination solely at a terminus of a polyolefin would be difficult. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 44203/1989 discloses to introduce a primary amino group to an anion living polymer whereby amination at a terminus of a polyolefin may be feasible, but the method is restricted to a polymer of a monomer which undergoes anionic polymerization.